Driveway

I knew girls in high school who never left for a date without a quarter to call the parents, in case the boy in question got too handsy. 

I could never understand how this would work. Were the girls supposed to bail out of the car from whatever isolated location they were in and walk to a pay phone? Because make out sessions were generally hosted in rural church parking lots, far away from pay phones. 

The quarter was better than nothing, but, nothing compared to my Mom's demand, which was for me to entertain boyfriends, handsy or otherwise, in the driveway of our house. That way, if any unwanted pressure was applied, I just had to go inside.

I got up to all kinds of technical virgin borderline nonsense in that driveway (all with my consent). On the other hand, there were way too many episodes where instead of slapping or arguing I really should have just walked the ten feet from the boy's car to my house, and I chose not to. Lots of missed opportunities there to assert myself, but then I would have missed out on the contrite kissing.

My frailties aside, it really was a great plan. (I know it was a great plan, because many of the boyfriends let me know how much they hated it.)

I eventually started making out with boyfriends inside the actual house, which was even safer, what with Dad wandering past glowering at them. And then when boyfriends came with their own private apartments, well, I married pretty soon after that. 

It occurs to me that Mom might have never expected me to actually stick to this plan. She's not around for me to ask, sadly. Still, I recommend it for anyone with daughters.

Comments

[KC]

... that's *brilliant* and fascinating. A quarter is marginally better than nothing, but "gotta roost in the driveway" is a *whoooole* lot better than nothing. Especially with the car horn being right there and all that...

I think Current Recommendations, given near-universal cell phones, are to have a code word/phrase for the kid to use when asking permission to stay at a party/etc. (when the kid feels uncomfortable but where it is socially difficult to say no, or a word to text to parents when they feel like they should go home) that results in the parents ordering their child to get home immediately and/or telling the child they'll be coming to pick them up, but that works more for group social situations than one-on-one things.

Were any boyfriends more Dad-Glowering-Resistant, or was it a pretty universal backing-off-now thing?

[theQueen]

KC - I had my eyes closed during most of the dad-glowering incidents. I only heard about it after. I remember being astonished I could do anything to annoy my very distant (step)Dad.